Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have tied with three votes each in the tiny New Hampshire township of Dixville Notch, kicking off Election Day in one of the first places in the country to report its presidential preference.
The unincorporated township, located along the US-Canada border in New Hampshire’s northern tip, opened and closed its poll just after midnight ET in a tradition that dates back to 1960. Four Republicans and two undeclared voters participated.
While Dixville Notch isn’t always predictive of the eventual winner – or even the state’s pick – its annual production, despite a dwindling population, is a success story for local leaders and a reason to smile for political junkies eager for an early taste of the day’s events.
By tradition, all eligible voters gather at the now-dormant Balsams Hotel in Dixville Notch to cast their secret ballots once polls open at midnight.
Once every ballot is cast, votes are tallied, and results are announced hours before anywhere else. This makes it a destination for national reporters, who often outnumber the voters.
Nearby Millsfield and Hart’s Location, tucked in the White Mountains, first offered midnight voting before Dixville Notch but haven’t participated continuously and aren’t conducting it this year. A fictionalized version of the three neighbors was featured in an episode of Aaron Sorkin’s “West Wing” dubbed “Hartsfield’s Landing.”
Dixville Notch voters have supported the Democratic nominee in the last two presidential elections. In 2020, the township unanimously cast five votes for President Joe Biden, and in 2016, Hillary Clinton won four of seven votes—two went to Trump and one to Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.
In January, four registered Republican voters and two independents participated in the GOP primary, casting six unanimous votes for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
The 75-year-old Otten, who said he has been “a Republican ever since I was seven years old,” told CNN before Tuesday’s vote that he would cast his ballot for Harris.
“Nowhere in the Pledge of Allegiance does it say anything about pledging your allegiance to a person,” Otten said. “And I think at the end of the day, Trump has made it clear that you need to pledge allegiance to him, and he alone can fix this, and that is as anti-democratic as I can understand.”
The voters also cast their votes in the country’s most competitive governor’s race between former one-term Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Democratic nominee Joyce Craig, the former mayor of Manchester, to succeed retiring Republican Gov. Chris Sununu.
